ABSTRACT
In April 1622, Aletheia Talbot, Countess of Arundel, the highest-ranking noblewoman in England, appeared twice in the Collegio of the Venetian Senate to defend herself against anonymous accusations that she had played a part in the Foscarini affair, a treason scandal that was rocking Venice. Rumors were circulating that at her palace on the Grand Canal, the Countess had hosted illegal meetings where the Venetian diplomat Antonio Foscarini betrayed state secrets to the ambassadors of the pope and emperor. The Venetian secretary Lionello further reported that “the Countess expressed herself as greatly obliged by the favours she had received and seemed entirely satisfied. The extent to which the English political establishment saw the Countess of Arundel as an international symbol of English-Venetian relations is clear in the number of prominent political figures who acknowledged their gratitude to the Republic for its handling of the affair.
